A Throne of Fire and Blood

Chapter 12

Tianna stood along side the other 25 champions in front of the castle, waiting to start the 4th test. The King stood beside Aaron and Landen before them. She heard guards placing items behind them.
"For today's test, your goal is to reach one of the golden flags atop the castle by climbing up and there is only 25 flags so as you have guessed, the one who doesn't return to the ground with a flag has to leave us so return to whatever gutter he came from. You each are allowed to pick two items to help you, which have been laid out behind you." Aaron announced, "You may now pick out your items, and good luck, Champions." They all turned around and walked over to the variety of items behind them. It was mostly ropes and grappling hooks, and that's what most of the others picked. Tianna went for a rope and a small tin of tar. After they all picked, they return to where they were standing before. The men that stood in front of them had now moved to behind the items and out of their way.
"You may start!" The King shouted. They all ran to the side of the castle to start climbing up.
Tianna climbed up a short way up to a balcony before using her tar or rope. She knelt down under the cover of the balcony to put some of the tar on her hands and bare feet to help her keep her grip. When she was done, she tied the tin around her waist with a small piece of the rope before she continued to go up.
Tianna looked above her at all the other Champions and saw that most of them had gone the easiest way up, with Harkon in front like always and while Tianna took a much harder route so she didn't want to be fighting with the other champions that had gone the same way. Tianna also noticed that one of the champions was missing, so she looked down to see if his guards were there, and they weren't. Had he escaped? Had he actually found a way out of this hellhole? It gave Tianna a small glimmer of hope, there might actually be a way out. She couldn't dwell on it now though, she had to keep moving.
As she continued her way up, Tianna was surprised no one had fallen yet, probably because the way up was actually quite easy, since of all the balconies and windowsills and parts of the castle wall which stuck out.
Looking down was a bad idea. Dryden had made her stand on a large wooden pole for hours on end to get her used to heights.
Tianna climbed up a decent way more and sat on a window ledge to view her competitors. Harkon was still in the lead with Emmet close below him and many other men following, so many that their hear often got tangled together.
Just as she was about to carry on climbing, Tianna heard a shriek, and a couple seconds later, a thump, then silence had followed. She looked down to see the dead body of Markus Dunway, a young assassin. Many of the sponsors took no notice of the death, as they expected more to come.
      Tianna shimmied up a drainpipe, her thighs clinging to the iron. Harkon hooked his long rope around a leering gargoyle's neck and swung across an expanse of flat wall, landing on a balcony ledge fifteen feet below the flags. She fought her frustration as she worked her way up higher and higher, following the course of the drainpipe.
The other competitors shuffled along, following Harkon's path. There were a few more shouts, and she looked down long enough to see that Emmet was causing a backup because he couldn't manage to toss his rope around the gargoyle's neck as Harkon had. A different champion nudged Emmet aside and moved past him, easily securing his own rope. Farai, now behind Emmet, made to do the same, but Emmet started cursing at him, and Farai stopped, lifting his hands in a rude gesture. Smirking, Tianna braced her blackened feet on a stabilizing bracket holding the pipe in place. She'd soon be directly parallel to the flags. And then only thirty feet of bare stone would separate her from it.
Tianna heard Farai shout, and Tianna looked in time to see Emmet shove him from their perch atop the gargoyle's back. Farai swung wide, the rope wrapped around his middle going slack as he collided with the castle wall below. Tianna froze, her breath catching as Farai scraped his hands and feet against the stone to catch hold.
But Emmet wasn't done yet. He bent under the guise of adjusting his boot, and Tianna saw a small dagger glint in the sunlight. How had he got it past his guards? Tianna's warning cry was carried away by the wind as Emmet set about sawing Farai's rope from its tether on the gargoyle. None of the other champions nearby bothered to do anything, though one competitor paused for a moment before easing around Emmet. If Farai died, it was one less competitor—and if they interfered, it might cost them this test. Tianna knew she should keep moving, but something kept her rooted to the spot.
Nox couldn't find a hold on the stone wall, and without a nearby ledge or gargoyle to grasp, he had nowhere to go but down. Once the rope broke, he'd fall.
One by one, the threads of his rope snapped beneath Emmet's dagger, and Farai, sensing the vibrations, looked up at him in horror. If he fell, there was no chance of surviving. A few more slices of Emmet's blade and the rope would be severed entirely.
The rope groaned. Tianna moved.
She slid down the drainpipe, the flesh of her feet and hands tearing open as the metal cut into her skin, but she didn't let herself think of the pain. The mercenary on the gargoyle below only had time to lean into the wall as she slammed onto the creature's head, gripping its horns to steady herself. The mercenary had already tied one end of his climbing rope around the gargoyle's neck; now she seized it and tied the other around her own waist. The rope was long enough—and strong enough, and the four gargoyles perched beside hers would provide enough space to run.
"Touch this rope and I'll gut you," she warned the mercenary, and readied herself.
      Farai shouted at Emmet, and she dared a look to where the thief dangled. There was a sharp snap of rope breaking, and Farai's cry of fear and rage, and Tianna took off, sprinting across the backs of the four gargoyles before she launched herself into the void.
Wind tore at her, but Tianna kept her focus on Farai, falling so fast, so far from her outstretched hands.
People shouted below, and the light bouncing off the stained glass windows of the castle blinded her. But there he was, just a hand's length from her fingers, his gray eyes wide, his arms swinging as if he could turn them into wings.
In a heartbeat, her arms were around his middle, and she slammed into him so hard that the breath was knocked from her chest. Together they plummeted like a stone, down, down, down toward the rising ground.
Farai grabbed the rope, but even that wasn't enough to lighten the blinding impact on her torso as the rope went tight. She held on to him with every ounce of strength she had, willing her arms not to let him go. The rope sent them careening toward the wall. Tianna hardly had the sense to lean her head away from the approaching stones, and the impact burst through her side and shoulder. She held tight to him still, focusing on her arms, on her too-shallow breathing. They hung there, flat against the wall, panting as they looked at the ground thirty feet below. The rope held.
"Evalyn," Farai said, gasping for breath. He pressed his face onto her hair, "Gods above." But cheers erupted from below and drowned out his words. Tianna's limbs trembled so violently that she had to focus on gripping Farai, and her stomach turned over and over and over.
But they were still in the middle of the test—still expected to complete it, and Tianna looked up. All the Champions had stopped to see her save the falling thief. All except one, who perched high, high above them.
Tianna could only gape as the 1st place flag was ripped down, and Harkon howled in triumph. More cheers rose up to meet them as Harkon waved the flag for everyone to see. She sighed.
Tianna would have won if she'd taken the easy route—she would have gotten there in half the time it took Harkon. But Nathan told her to stay in the middle, anyway. And her path had been far more impressive and demonstrative of her skills. Harkon just had to jump and swing—amateur scaling. Besides, if she had won, if she'd gone the easy way, she wouldn't have saved Farai.
      She clenched her jaw. Could she get back up there in time? Perhaps Farai could take the rope, and she'd just scale the wall with her bare hands. There was nothing worse than second place. But even as she thought it, some of the others had climbed the last few feet to the spot, grabbing a flag before descending.
"Evalyn. Farai. Hurry up," Aaron called, and Tianna peered down at the Weapons Master.
Tianna scowled, and started sliding her feet along the cracks in the stone, looking for a foothold. Her skin, raw and bleeding in spots, stung as she found a crevice for her toes to squeeze into. Carefully, carefully, she pulled herself up.
"I'm sorry," Farai breathed, his legs knocking into hers as he also sought out a foothold.
"It's fine," she told him. Shaking, numb, Tianna climbed back up the wall, leaving Farai to figure out the way on his own. Foolish. It'd been so foolish to save him. What had she been thinking?